Don't Back Down
by Danny Phantasm
Summary: Jack is an anomaly. He never knew living would get him into so much trouble. Now it's only a matter of time before Pitch finds him again to continue the tests. Can these new so-called 'friends' of his keep him safe? Or will he fall back into the dark clutches of his tormentor? Dystopian AU - Insane Jack - Human Guardians - Rated T for Violence, Gore, and Torture


**First ROTG story. o u o; Hope you like it. 'He' is Jack and 'the man' is Pitch. This is a modern AU world (which will be explained in the next chapter). ^-^ Enjoy.**

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He was running. God new where, and he wouldn't stop. Not until he knew he would be safe for at least some amount of time.

He hated playing this game of cat and mouse. It had been going on for so long he can't even remember when it started. Every time he got caught he was subject to pain and torture, of the most inhuman kind. And all for what?

Science.

The mindless abuse, poking and prodding, multiple vivisections, mind games, and more was all in the name of science. Or so he was told.

The boy could only think that the man doing it enjoyed watching him lose his sanity (which he kind of already did but didn't realize it) through the tests and procedures.

He kept running. This time he was in the Arts District, the East Area if he remembered correctly.

Sprinting down the streets, past colorful buildings in the dead of night, his only light was the moon and the few fanciful candles around every alley and street corner. All he could hear was the padding of his own footsteps as he neared the central circle in west of the district.

As he burst forth from the alley he could hear peals of dark laughter, thought faint, that pushed him to move even faster.

His legs burned as he dashed by the large fountain, it's calming water doing nothing to calm his frazzled nerves.

This was open territory. If he stopped now, or even slowed his pace the tiniest bit he would be caught again, much faster than last time. He didn't want to go back to any of the labs. They were dark and swimming with shadows, smelling of not only chemicals but blood. His own blood. It made his stomach churn whenever he was brought inside any one of them. He couldn't even remember how many there were, though he had a hunch it was around six or seven.

Pushing the thoughts of the labs away, he kept on as the laughter got louder. Closer. Much closer than he wanted it to be.

Soon he was out of the central circle and into the even darker alleys of the Arts District, where the buildings were blurs of blacks and grays as he ran past them.

This was where he wanted to go. This was the place closest to the capital building, Guardian, in the central area of the entire Capital, which was a city in itself.

Distorted laughter bounced off the walls as he made it through twists and turns, and he knew that the man following him wasn't even using a tracking device this time. His footsteps slamming into the cobblestoned ground were probably loud enough to wake people up, although they never did.

That's one of the very many things he hated about running. No one ever bothered to wake up and see what was going on. Nobody bothered to look out their windows to see something happening. That left everything to be just him and his monster in the night. It must be nice to be so blissfully unaware to the dark things.

"Come on boy. Do you think you can get away from me?" said the man, in a loud voice, sending violent shivers down his spine. No. He can't be too close. Just a little more and he'll be free for some time.

He blocked out the voice as the man started laughing again and pushed onwards, through the maze of painted buildings and gothic decorations. It definitely wasn't his favorite area in the Arts District, too many shadows to remind him of what he'd rather forget.

When the laughter got closer, that's when he saw it. The fence.

The main gate was at an area in the middle of the west, while he was in the southern part. Even so, he knew this was where he could escape. The one spot in which he could get through without the man being able to follow him for some amount of time.

As he came upon the fence, it stood proudly at 15 feet tall, colorful spray painted chain link standing between him and the Inner City.

He wasted no time as he kept running, though it came to a frantic jog as he searched for the opening. It was an accident with some of the exploding fireworks around City Day last year that caused a hole in the bottom of the fence. Just big enough for his skinny body to fit through.

There.

His mind was filled with ringing bells as he made a mad dash for the opening, the man now hot on his tail since he had slowed down.

Diving to the ground, grass stains dragged along his blue sweatshirt and brown pants, dry dirt billowing up and making it hard for him to see. He kept moving though, crawling through the gap and scrambling to the other side. All of his movements froze when he felt a hand wrap around his ankle.

"Planning to escape into the Inner City are we? Think again boy."

A rough tug on his leg pulled him back the way he came, making him yelp in not only surprise but pain from the jerk, most likely meant to break his ankle.

Without a word though, he tried to grab onto something to stop from being taken back. Anything to keep from being taken back again.

That's when his eyes set on the barbed wire springing up from the ground. It was buried in the ground, going around the inside of the fence, most likely to stop any intruders that tried to go over the wall and jump down (although he knew that rarely happened). Even though he knew it would hurt, he closed his eyes tightly and quickly reached out, taking a hold of the grimy metal.

God it hurt. Even though he had been through so much pain already it didn't even dull his senses to it.

He could feel his hand already go slick with blood as he tried to pull himself through again, his ankle still being roughly yanked on the other side.

In a last ditch attempt, he lifted his other leg and kicked back. He missed hitting anything the first few times, but heard a satisfied noise of pain come from the man as he hit him in what he presumed was the face.

The grip on his ankle slackened and he tore it from the grasp, keeping in noises of pain as he felt it throb not only from running but from being pulled on. It was probably sprained.

Now free from the man's grip he dragged him with the grass, his other hand still on the barbed wire as he pulled his legs forward so they wouldn't get caught again. Wriggling through the dirt he barely made it in time for the man to come back to his senses and try to grab for his leg again. Once all his body parts were through the fence, he let go of the barbed wire slowly, waiting for the metal to slide out of his palm.

As he did this he turned slightly and looked up fearfully at the man standing on the other side of the fence.

He knew the only thing keeping him from blowing it up and taking him back was the law. The law was the only thing he had to hide from or else he couldn't continue with his research. Research on him.

Gulping he looked away and scrabbled to stand up, his legs burning as he took steps back, over the thick line of barbed wire and towards the small forest of trees behind him.

Though he looked not amused, the man stood there in the light of the moon, his cat like eyes watching his every move as he backed away.

"If you think you've finally escaped boy, think again." he said, putting on a smile to replace his scowl. "I will be back, and when I am, you won't be able to escape so easily." With that, the man turned around and walked back into the shadows, leaving him to back into a tree and slump over from exhaustion.

At least he escaped a little while.

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**So I got this idea for a modern Rise of the Guardians thing and here it is. T^T OTL Sorry it's so lame.**

**BEWARE! FOR YOU HAVE HAD THE HONOR OF EXPERIENCING MY UPMOST LAMENESS! *shot***

**Anyways, I hope it wasn't too confusing. ^^; This was kind of an introduction to the whole story so yeah. :P It'll get more exciting next chapter! Also, chapter 2 will have explanations on the city, and the districts, who belongs to which one, and other such things. :3 Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day! ^-^**

***goes ghost and flies away***


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